Behind The Match:Inaugural edition

[TheFranchise 0]

I don't mean the one where he goes over the ropes, I mean where Hogan smashes him head first agaisnt the turnbuckle, like people usually do in 10's.

And he just bounces off the bottom rope backwards.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

I like how the general consensus so far is "OMG, Shawn Michaels is such a dick for over-selling but lolz he was so funny I wish he was a dick again!" The guy can't win.

 

Shawn Michaels the character as a dick = awesome

Shawn Michaels the Christian as a dick = not so much.

[Black Lushus 0]

I don't mean the one where he goes over the ropes, I mean where Hogan smashes him head first agaisnt the turnbuckle, like people usually do in 10's.

And he just bounces off the bottom rope backwards.

 

Yes, I know what you're talking about, where it looks like he kinda jumps into the turnbuckle, his feet on the bottom turnbuckle...go back and watch the 92 thru 97 days. Particularly, his heel days.

[imajackoff? 0]

I hadn't seen this match until now. His sell of the big boot was freakin' hilarious.

 

Was the back story of this match that it was supposed to be a 2 match feud, w/ each winning 1 but Hogan cut it to 1 because of his knee injury?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

No. Hogan wanted to win both matches, Shawn wasn't willing to play ball, and neither was WWE, really. And then when Shawn cut the post-Summerslam promo, Hogan just didn't want to do it anymore.

[Hawk 34 0]

The rematch was going to be a cage match and the finish was supposed to be a double escape with Hogan beating Shawn to the floor in close fashion.

[Promoter 0]

HBK vs. Hogan politics. Doesn't get any funnier than that. Didn't HBK remember Hogan's comments about Bret Hart in terms of doing a program at SummerSlam 93 with him? Hogan still has that attitude. Hogan worked with the Kliq in wcw, so you know he knew what he wanted done with HBK and wouldn't fall for anything HBK wanted. This is worse than Hogan/Austin politics. Hulk Hogan 1989 against HBK 1996 would have been something. Then again, in some ways HBK aint Savage who can carry guys like Warrior and Hogan to Mania matches.

 

On a side note, anyone rememeber Main Event 1989 when Hogan was looking for Savage backstage after the heel turn and Hogan grabbed HBK by the throat and jammed him against the wall. HBK's face was hilarious.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I finally saw the match, what is HBK doing a front flip on the ringside floor after the knock off apron spot for?

[FroGG_NeaL 0]

Beacause its awesome.

[NoCalMike 0]

From what I remember, it almost seemed as if HBK was over-selling as a way to mock the "Hogan-style" of wrestling. Which is slow move after slow move where the opponent is supposed to sell and then lay around and wait for Hogan to pose, play up to the crowd etc etc........also he was selling as if he was literally in there with SUPERMAN.

 

That is the way I took it. It was hilarious, but probably the wrong thing to do in their first every matchup.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I could understand some of the oversells, but there was a few that left me befuddled. It crossed the line of "hilarity" (which I would never term a match where someone intentionally tries to screw with the other guy) into "almost unwatchable". Call me crazy but I like my matches to have a semblance of realism. Doing front flips off a back bump is not realistic. Someone mentioned that turnbuckle spot where HBK jumps on the bottom ropes. What was not said was that he turned inward the ring and did a flip off that spot as well. Just not good.

[Black Lushus 0]

Someone mentioned that turnbuckle spot where HBK jumps on the bottom ropes. What was not said was that he turned inward the ring and did a flip off that spot as well. Just not good.

 

Yeah, THAT part of the bump was a new twist for this match, but he's done that jumping in to the turnbuckle thing forever.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

On a side note, anyone rememeber Main Event 1989 when Hogan was looking for Savage backstage after the heel turn and Hogan grabbed HBK by the throat and jammed him against the wall. HBK's face was hilarious.

 

Also, immediately following Hogan's loss to Yokozuna at KOTR 1993, HBK was interviewed on the PPV where he made fun of Hogan teasing a match that wouldn't happen until 12 years later.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Someone mentioned that turnbuckle spot where HBK jumps on the bottom ropes. What was not said was that he turned inward the ring and did a flip off that spot as well. Just not good.

 

Yeah, THAT part of the bump was a new twist for this match, but he's done that jumping in to the turnbuckle thing forever.

 

I'm pretty sure Perfect used the spot at Summerslam '91 against Bret and everybody seems to love that match. Perfect used to use it all the time too. I can't remember anyone saying 'just not good' about Perfect though.

[cabbageboy 0]

1. Do you think WWE properly handled the storyline for this match?

Sure, they did about as well with it as possible given that Hogan wasn't on TV every week leading up to it. The pseudo heel turn was handled well but I don't agree with doing it on July 4 when fewer people were watching Raw. Oddly enough I went to a house show during this period of time and there was an HBK/Flair match on it, with Shawn basically wrestling a normal match as a face.

 

2. Do you think Shawn Michaels' overselling helped or hindered the match?

I'm a bit torn on this, but it certainly made the match memorable, haha. I'll go ahead and say it helped the match, since I don't think it would have been very good at all without some wild selling from HBK.

 

3. Has this match affected the way you look at either Hogan or Michaels as workers or as people?

Not really. It honestly went about like I figured a match between them would go. People forget that Hogan can in fact draw a crowd in and sell for his opponent before making the superman comeback.

 

4. What impact, if any, do you think this match has had on their legacies?

It was a fun match but I don't think it really helped or hurt either man's legacy. It drew solid enough money though. In the end I think Michaels learned that while he may have had Vince's ear over the years he's still not the backstage master that Hogan is. The beauty of the match to me is that Shawn does all his ridiculous overselling but Hogan ended up with the ultimate "fuck you" at the end. Once he hit the boot he made Shawn wait a good 40 seconds while he played to the crowd and only THEN did he finally drop the leg for the win. I loved it.

 

5. Will we see another match between two wrestlers of this caliber (popularity wise) again? Have we seen one already,perhaps?

 

We already saw it at WM this year with HBK vs. Flair in the career match. I prefer the Flair match actually since there was some real emotion to it and not as much foolishness.